Pleasance Basketball Club are a basketball club based in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
.
History
The club was the founded in 1947, one of the first basketball clubs formed in Scotland. Led by club stalwart Jock Kerr Hunter, and along with Heriot's, Polonia and Redford, they formed the East of Scotland Basketball Association, and the Amateur Basketball Association of Scotland.
Five Pleasance players (Ray Campbell, Jimmy Carter, Jock Fisher, George Hill and Grant Hutchison) were in the first Scotland international squad in face England in 1947, and seven players would represent Scotland at the European Championships in Paris in 1951.
Pleasance would win the first two Scottish Cups, defeating Aberdeen University at the
Kelvin Hall
The Kelvin Hall, located on Argyle Street in the Yorkhill area of Glasgow, Scotland, is one of the largest exhibition centres in Britain and now a mixed-use arts and sports venue that opened as an exhibition venue in 1927. It has also been ...
in Glasgow in 1947, and defeating Jordanhill at
Princes Street Gardens
Princes Street Gardens are two adjacent public parks in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and building of the New Town, ...
in Edinburgh in 1948.
During the 1970s the club competed regularly in the second division of the Lothian League. The club took the step up to the first division when the league matches moved to a central venue in Edinburgh. Gradually better players were attracted to join the club, and this culminated in the winning of the Lothian Cup in 1990, defeating the fancied Edinburgh University side.
In the intervening years Pleasance have been a strong Lothian League side, regularly finishing in the top 3 positions. After a few seasons of struggling by their own standards, the team bounced back by winning the Lothian League in the 2015–16 season.
Current teams
Pleasance compete in Division 2 of the
Scottish Basketball Championship. The club will have 4 teams playing in the 2019–20 season:
*Pleasance - National League 1
*Pleasance B - Lothian League Division 1
*Pleasance Pace - Lothian League Division 2
*Pleasance 47s - Lothian League Division 3
Season-by-season records
References
External links
Official site
Basketball teams in Scotland
1947 establishments in Scotland
Sports clubs and teams in Edinburgh
Basketball teams established in 1947
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